A difficult requirement of patient care is bathing a bed bound patient. Though many devices have been created to assist a care provider in delivering a bathing experience to an immobile patient, none have replaced the traditional yet utterly ineffective method of wiping a patient with a wet, soapy rag. As in-patient hospital infection rates increase and prolonged hospital stays result in unrecoverable health care costs, a new, efficient, economical solution is needed. A problem arises, however, when the solution is more complicated and costly than the problem it is intended to solve. Some past attempts to solve the problem of efficient bed bathing for inpatients have produced bulky assemblies intended for reuse that are awkward to assemble, or require costly disinfection between patients. Many attempts to solve the problem of cleaning the bed bound patient require filling a surrounding enclosure with water. Many patients cannot tolerate partial immersion due to invasive devices or orthopedic devices that may degrade or malfunction if submerged. Furthermore, soaking or submerging surgical wounds in water poses a significant problem because they can become unstable and reopen. Accumulated bath water increases the likelihood that localized bacteria may migrate to other parts of the body. While there are many devices available for use with bed-ridden patients, none offer all the long felt needs in patient care, and none truly address the issue of providing a cost-effective, thorough, and complete bathing experience for a bed bound patient.
It would be desirable to provide a bed bath article that meets the safety needs of the patient and caregivers.
It would be further desirable to provide a bed bath article that is easy to maneuver beneath a bed bound patient.
It would be further desirable to provide a bed bath article that requires little or no assembly prior to use.
It would be still further desirable to provide a bed bath article that leverages existing bed structures for support.